March 12, 2021 By Frank McCormack
On a cold February evening frigid by New Orleans’ standards the mv. Jared Phillips, the newest vessel in Parker Towing Company’s fleet, motored through the Harvey Canal, down the Mississippi River past the city’s French Quarter, and through the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal, bound for the Intracoastal Waterway. The 4,200 hp. towboat, built at FMT Shipyard on the Harvey Canal, made its way east to Mobile, Ala., then north to Parker Towing’s headquarters in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where it quickly entered service on the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway (BWT).
The vessel is named for Parker Towing Company’s director of business operations, Jared Phillips, who has been with the company for 10 years. Phillips, a native of Huntsville, Ala., began attending the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2002. While in college, he met the former Alison Parker Haun, daughter of Parker Towing V